The Foreigner's Guide to Living in Slovakia

How are you supposed to learn how to read or pronounce Slovak if you can’t tell what sounds the accent marks are intended to make in words? Here’s my explanation of Slovak diacritics and samples of words to help you learn how to pronounce them:

When looking at the Slovak language, the first thing you might notice over some of the letters is an inverted caret which looks like this ˇ. The function of this symbol is to ‘soften’ the sound of the letter. Most notably it changes the sound in the letters c, s and z.

č = the sound like ch as in church: mačka = cat
š = the sound like sh as in show: šalát = salad
ž = the sound like s in vision: môžem = I can

It’s also possible to have this symbol over or after a d, l, n, or t, but often the symbol looks more like an apostrophe than a caret. With these words, imagine that you are adding a y sound after those letters, for example pronouncing the word new like nyew.
ďakujem (‘dya-ku-yem) = thank you
marhuľa (‘mar-hool-ya) = apricot
deň (dyeny) = day

Vowel sounds are pronounced like vowels in a Romance language as Spanish or Italian, and an accent mark over a vowel extends the sound.
víno (vee-no) = wine

The letter j has a sound like an English y.
ďakujem (‘dya-ku-yem) = thank you

The letter c is pronounced as ts.
cesnak (tses-nak) = garlic

The letter ä sounds like the e in pet.
mäso (me-so) = meat

The letters ch are pronounced almost as a heavy h sound, much like the German pronunciation of ch like Bach.

The letter ô sounds like wo in woe
pôst (pwost) = fast (as in fasting for religious purposes)

Now, ready to practice? Take a look at some of the sample dialogs such as Dialog at a deli counter.

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